


Fireworks

by ConfessionForAnotherTime



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Blood, Canonical Character Death, Death, Gen, Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-04-03 06:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4091104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfessionForAnotherTime/pseuds/ConfessionForAnotherTime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine the moment before North died and Theta was officially removed from his brain, Theta made fireworks in the sky one last time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The fireworks were always calming. Theta sent small rushes of endorphins whenever those lights went up into his field of vision. Something about it reminded him of home, reminded him of that simpler time before all of Project Freelancer took their lives away, reminded him of not having to run to be able to survive, reminded him that no matter what life threw at him now, there was always a small shred of happiness left in the world.

North struggled to get up, holding to his side where the blade of the brute shot had sliced through his body suit, tearing it like paper, exposing his ribs. He struggled to breathe, not knowing that one of his lungs was collapsing as he pulled himself to his feet. At such close range, his sniper rifle was useless, serving better as a means of pulling himself up than a weapon.

“Maine, why are you doing this?” North choked out, flecks of blood dotting his visor. He brought his hands up to wipe them away, swallowing hard at the metallic taste in his mouth he desperately tried to ignore before now.

“Agent North, you know very well why this is happening.” North could swear he could hear Sigma sneer, but AI weren’t capable of that, were they? “Theta is one of ours. You can’t keep him away.” North’s lip curled in a growl at the idea of Theta going anywhere. Theta was part of him, and he wasn’t going to give him up without a fight.

“Theta,” North ground out, standing as tall as he could with the pain in his side, his vision blurred, “isn’t going anywhere.” Where is South? She was right there. She should be helping me fight him off. Why is he having to fight him off in the first place? It didn’t help that Theta could hear every word, feel every stab, experience every bullet that ripped through North’s flesh.

“North, what are we going to do? Your healing unit is failing and I can’t fix it all,” Theta sobbed, breaking North’s concentration, “I can’t lose you! I can’t not when we’re so close to being out of this.” Theta’s voice continued to break, curling up in on himself.

“Theta, buddy,” North assured him, weeding the pain out of his voice, “South is nearby. She’s going to help. I’m going to be fine.” He knew Theta could read his thoughts. Theta could tells from the HUD that North was dying. His armor’s shield had already popped and his health bar was diminishing fast.

“You know she ran!” Theta yelled, voice cracking horribly through sobs, “you know she left and she’s not going to come back until you’re dead! You may have cared for her, tried to protect her, but she was always looking out for her. Even if you know I would never think it, maybe you’ll listen when I say your thoughts out loud.”

“Theta, I…” North coughed, flecking more blood onto his visor. Theta activated the bubble shield, calculating that he had a little more time left.

“Quiet North, you’ll mess me up.” Theta set the shield, retreated back into the recesses of North’s consciousness. Even if he couldn’t see him, he could feel the familiar twinge of his presence at the corners of his mind, dulling the pain that ate away at him as he bled out.

Maine’s footsteps got closer again, circling around for that last blow, to take the kill and claim the fragment as his own. North could hear the Earth move under Maine’s boots as the blood pounded in his ears, one of those last familiar noises.

“Well, Theta, just like I told you, to have a good offense, you have to have a good defense. I got sloppy. I’m sorry kiddo. Stay safe.” North made his last stand despite Theta’s protests, screaming at him there had to be another way for all of this to work. North’s efforts were in vain, collapsing under the blow from the blade of the brute shot and crumpling to the ground. He groaned in protest, thinking he could get back up, thinking he could still fight, thinking he could still make it out of this.

“North! You were supposed to be here for me! For South! Why would you just give up on us like this?!” If Theta was human, North could swear he could hear the sniffles of a child whose tears he had dried time and time again. “Why would you leave me here? You said you wouldn’t leave me!” North could swear he could feel Theta’s tiny fists beating against his chest after he fell to the ground. North could swear he could see those fireworks, just like Theta had done that first time.

_“Thanks. I worked super hard on it.”_

 

 


	2. Smolder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -Anonymous said: I wonder how South felt when she left Theta for the Meta. I mean, it was kind of her last piece of her brother…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit punishandenslavesuckers: No but where is the really violent emotionally gut-wrenching fic where South lets the Meta kill her brother and she’s just standing there while North shouts for her to help him and she just stands there not doing anything and he’s screaming at her to do something and she’s just like… Sorry, North.

She huddled behind the rock. Deep breath in, deep breath out. This is how the plan would work. Maine would collect Theta. Maine would leave. She froze in fear, not entirely grasping the situation that was laid before her. The Counselor had assured her that North wouldn’t be harmed. No. This wasn’t according to plan. North’s screaming wasn’t according to plan. North telling her to hide was close enough to plan. He had always protected her and here he was, doing it again. Yet, he didn’t know that she was with Recovery. He didn’t know that she was Recovery Two and that Wash had been sent out to lure the rogue Agent with too many AI and not enough control. 

Isn’t that what this all came down to? Control? Here she was, letting this happen. No. Not letting. She was afraid. South was afraid for her brother in the same way that she was afraid for herself. She didn’t know what to do, but in that moment she had made a choice not to act. She had allowed herself to be lured in by the Counselor’s plan in the first place so much that she couldn’t fully grasp the scene unfolding in front of her to the point that she was standing over her brother’s dying body. She heard his recovery beacon going off in her helmet, but it sounded far away. It sounded like her head was full of cotton and nothing was going to make it clear. South closed her eyes and when she opened them, she was sitting across from North in a white room, unable to comprehend what was going on around her. 

“North. Nate. Where are we?” she pleaded, leaning to get up but stopping part way through the action. 

“We’re in your head. You already know I’m dead. You already know there’s nothing you can do to bring me back. You need to make a choice though. You can get away with my equipment if you leave Theta behind. You know the AI have been trouble since the beginning, but there was nothing you could do to prove it. Tell Maine… tell the Meta he can take Theta. Let his power grow until you can meet up with Wash. You know I’m lost at this point, but you need to let go. You need to be your own person and if you stay here, the Meta is only going to take you like he took me. Take the shield and keep yourself safe. Take the shield and do what I couldn’t for you. Run.”

South opened her eyes and saw the Meta in front of her. 

“Maine!” South was met with a growl when his name pierced the air, but she knew it would get his attention. 

“My my, aren’t we bold, Agent South,” Sigma said lightly with a laugh. “And here I thought you would just hand him over to us. You practically have already. Give us the AI.”

South looked down at her brother on the ground, knowing there wasn’t anything left to save. She let out a huff of a breath, pursing her lips and waiting.

“Let me have the dome shield and I’ll let you have Theta. I know I can’t get away with Theta without going up against you, so please, let me have one piece left of North before he’s gone for good.”

“Before all you have left are the memories of him besting you at everything? Having his equipment won’t make you a better Agent, South. You would need skill to do that.” Sigma’s fiery gaze bore through her heart. 

“Shut the fuck up. You sound just like him. I don’t need it from you too.” She looked down to the set of armor again, now just a body encased in exosuit and metal. “Take Theta and let me grieve, if just for a moment.”

“As you wish.” Sigma disappeared as the Meta pulled out the chip that contained Theta from the back of North’s neck, inserting it into his own. “You won’t have long to run.”

“Just give me a few minutes.”

South closed her eyes again, escaping into that white void where she had last seen her brother in her head. She got up this time, crossing the void of her mind to hug what remained of her brother in her memories as she let him go. 

“Don’t blame yourself for this. I know you do already,” North told her. “But this isn’t your fault. I just needed to protect my little sister.”

“But who is going to protect me now?”

South’s world went black when the Meta knocked her out from behind.

\---

“What I don't get is the motion tracker. No one can get by one of those while they're active. You sure you don't have anything in your logs? ... South. You with me? South!” Washington’s voice pounded in her head as she came to. How would she explain this? The harsh reality of her situation became real when she could see the Meta had put the dome shield in her equipment slot after knocking her out. North’s body was next to her, still seeping blood.

“What?” She still didn’t understand why she wasn’t dead. Not when half of her had already died that day.


End file.
